3 ms·
Interesting historic context! My understanding is that in the current world the suffix doesn't really matter, since all 28" rims and tires are marketed seem to
by Matthias247 5y ago
Interesting historic context!
My understanding is that in the current world the suffix doesn't really matter, since all 28" rims and tires are marketed seem to be marketed as 700c, and all 27.5" ones as 650b. The height of the tire pretty much correlates with the tire width, so one would rather look at the tire and rim width to determine whether they are compatible (wider rims should be used for wider tires).
And it's actually fun that 700c bikes are usally ridden with narrower and lower tires than 650b bikes (which was in the recent years mostly used for mountain bikes and tire width of >= 2.3"), despite this designation claiming the opposite.
- comprev 5y agoPinkbike has a good article on rim width [1] [1] https://www.pinkbike.com/news/rim-widths-comparison-test-mountain-bike.html https://www.pinkbike.com/news/rim-widths-comparison-test-mou...
- petre 5y agoActually 650b is used when the tire width is less than 50 mm (randonneur and gravel bikes) and 27.5" when the width is over 50 mm (mountain bikes). Jan Heine and Kirk Pacenti reintroduced this size.
- switchbak 5y agoIn the mountain bike world, there's really only two modern standards - 650b (also called 27.5in) and 29er's. 26er's were a thing for the longest time, but really no one makes new bikes in that size anymore. We're mostly riding on wider tires, 2.3 seems to be a rational minimum for real trail riding, and you'll often see widths of 2.6 and beyond (and fat bikes of course go way wider) on both 27.5 and 29in bikes.